Previously...
Those precious people gave him[Naruto] a purpose to live while Gaara's purpose had been to kill. Closing his eyes, Gaara felt his lips twitch in the ghost of a smile.
A fleeting memory flashed in his mind's eye—one of a little girl from Kankuro's age group at the academy, with wild raven black hair constantly wind-blown and wide frosty eyes always looking for another unnecessarily dangerous adventure.
How ironic, to think that he could have had acceptance like Naruto if only he hadn't given up so soon.
For the first time in six years, he felt hope.
It was then that Gaara stirred. Immediately, Kankuro's eyes flickered down to him, surprised the redhead was still conscious after everything he'd just gone through.
Temari, oblivious to Gaara's stirring, had just opened her mouth to reply to Kankuro when Gaara, using the last of his strength, rasped out his siblings names. Though his voice was nearly a hoarse whisper, Temari's mouth snapped shut with an audible click and her eyes flashed to Gaara. They awaited his words with bated breath, unsure of how the situation would turn out now that everything they'd once known was shaken out of place.
Gaara let the words out in a breath of relief, as if relieving himself of something that had weighed him down for years. "I'm sorry."
He felt Kankuro's grip on him loosen in surprise as his two older siblings exchanged a glance.
It was Kankuro who replied.
"D-don't worry about it."
Chapter 1
"One of the things I learned the hard way was that it doesn't pay to get discouraged. Keeping busy and making optimism a way of life can restore your faith in yourself." — Lucille Ball
Ever since the infamous Sabaku no Gaara left Suna for the Chunin Exams in Konoha, life in the Sand Village had been considerably calmer than usual. It seemed almost as if a heavy weight had been lifted, allowing the villagers to breathe again. With Shukaku's host absent, the suffocating veil of danger was gone, allowing a general sense of relief and peace to linger in its absence.
The overwhelmingly peaceful atmosphere made Kyoko sick and more irritable than ever.
The only thing that made her stomach churn more was the order that came directly from the Suna Council, which stood in for the absent Kazekage. Standing before them, Kyoko felt her blood run cold as her brain comprehended her new mission.
Screw all manners and formalities.
"You want me to what?"
Somewhere in the back of her mind, she was aware that her sensei was exasperatedly glaring daggers at her back for her blatant disrespect towards the village elders, but her own eyes were fixed upon the table of councilmen in outrage.
"This is not up for debate," one of them snapped, a look of heavy disapproval in his eyes.
Kyoko bit back a scathing remark, exclaiming instead, "But I'm only a chunin! Surely this is a task meant for someone of a higher rank?"
"What do you mean by that?" a councilwoman drawled. "Most of our jonin are on the invasion force, and we can't leave the village completely undefended, right?"
"Why are you so hesitant anyways?" asked the youngest member, a man only in his mid-twenties. "You always like stepping up to a challenge."
Kyoko frowned, floundering for an excuse. "Well...I…"
Behind Kyoko, her sensei Mitsuo added in his own thoughts. "All three of the Kazekage's children are powerful in their own rights as well. All you're really doing, Kyoko, is bringing them supplies for the desert trip."
"That's not the point," stressed Kyoko, gritting her teeth in frustration as she fought the urge to turn and glare at her sensei. "Gaara—"
"—is Suna's top priority," cut in a councilman. He waved Kyoko and her sensei out with a cross expression. "The discussion is over. Unless you want to be suspended of active duty for the rest of the year, I suggest you start preparing for your trip, Kyoko."
"Kyoko-sama?"
Jerking her eyes away from the forest she'd been staring sightlessly at, Kyoko looked down towards the forest floor, where a dingo wearing a Suna hitai-ate stood, looking severely out of place in the greenery with its coat of sandy beige fur. Mentally smacking herself for letting her mind drift while she was in enemy territory, Kyoko jumped down from her perch, landing the twenty-foot drop with the grace of any shinobi.
"You've caught their scents?" she asked hopefully.
The dingo shook his head.
Kyoko sighed. "We'll have to travel further into the forest then." Biting her lip nervously, she glanced over her shoulder at the edge of the forest, where the endless sky-tall trees melted into flat plains. "I don't like the idea of going too far into Leaf territory so stay alert, Areno."
"Naturally," the dingo said, nose already tipped in the air as they started to maneuver around the bases of the large trees. "The breeze is not in our favor today."
They were running upwind. The wind blowing gently against them from behind would carry their scents ahead into the unknown rather than carrying the unknown's scents back to them. Kyoko shrugged. "The wind is always in our favor, Areno. It won't turn its back on those from the Wind Country."
Temari sighed as she sat back and wiped her sticky hands on the skirt of her dress, leaving faint red smudges. Her hands didn't feel any less sticky. "Okay, that should do until we can get our hands on a first aid kit."
Kankuro glanced over from where he was perched on a large rock, keeping watch.
Temari had carefully cut off Gaara's shirt with a kunai and ripped it into strips of fabric that she wrapped around Gaara's shoulder and upper chest. Doing so protected the open gash, but left the rest of Gaara's torso revealed and unprotected. Even the thin kusari armor undershirt had been carefully removed.
Kankuro's eyes raked over his brother's pale, flawless skin. Not a single scar marred his flesh, save for the slight injuries he'd received from the recent fight with Uzumaki. It was a sight almost unheard of for a shinobi, reminding Kankuro once more of the invincibility he'd once believed Gaara to possess.
"You see it too, right?" Temari suddenly sighed.
Kankuro blinked. Gaara's skin was nearly flawless; what the heck was he supposed to see? "See what?"
Temari rolled her eyes and pointed to Gaara's midsection. "Look. You can see all of his ribs."
Kankuro hopped off the rock and walked over, squatting down beside Gaara. Temari was right; the redhead's ribs were painfully visible, the skin of his torso stretched tightly over his ribcage. He didn't usually eat with him and Temari, but he'd always assumed Gaara at least ate the snacks their kitchen was usually stocked full of.
"Damn," Kankuro finally said, unsure of what else to say.
An awkward silence descended on the two older siblings as they sat, looking at Gaara and wondering what else about the redhead they didn't know. Well, to be honest, they both knew that they barely knew Gaara at all.
"Temari," Kankuro suddenly said, interrupting the quiet. "Shouldn't you check again?"
"Oh," Temari said dully. "Yeah, you're right."
Since they had retrieved Gaara, Temari had been pausing to periodically send wind messages out in hopes that a Suna wind-user would hear and come to their aid. So far, it appeared as though no one was within her range.
Bringing her hands together in a few quick seals, Temari sent out a brief message carrying request for back-up out into the breeze.
As the wind carried the message away, Temari brought her hands down and sighed. "Hopefully someone receives that one."
A smile broke out on Kyoko's face when the wind suddenly changed directions, starting to blow into her face instead of behind her. "Areno, stop for a moment."
Obediently, the dingo slowed to a stop, looking up at Kyoko curiously as the black-haired kunoichi closed her eyes. With the breeze came smells of the forest, of flowers, of grass, of wood, but to Kyoko's wind-tuned ears, the wind carried a voice as well.
"Temari's close by," Kyoko finally said, opening her eyes and glancing down at her dingo. "If I received her wind message, they're within a fifty meter radius of us."
Areno's eyes lit up in understanding, and he immediately turned in the direction the wind had blown from. "If she's that close by, then I should be able to find her scent."
Enthusiasm renewed, Kyoko nodded with a grin. "Go for it."
Without needing to be told again, Areno strutted forward, nose tipped slightly in the air. Kyoko strolled along behind the dingo as they wandered around in search of Temari's scent. Suddenly, the dingo stiffened and shot off like a rocket. Kyoko's grin widened, and she took off after him.
Areno reached a large boulder nestled by the base of a tree and leapt atop of the stone, barking once as the sun glinted off the Suna hitai-ate around its neck. Two startled yelps sounded from the other side of the boulder, but no kunai flew. Leaping neatly onto the boulder, Kyoko grinned cheekily down at the startled faces of Temari and Kankuro. "Someone request for back-up?"
Kankuro recovered first.
"You've got to be kidding me!" he exclaimed, scowling at Kyoko. "Suna sent you as our back-up?"
Kyoko crossed her arms, rolling her eyes. "Trust me. I wasn't too happy with the order either. But anyways, where's Gaara? He's kind of our top priority."
The siblings exchanged a glance and shifted aside, revealing the limp and battered form of Gaara, lying flat on the ground and partly hidden by grass. His torso was left mostly bare, his shirt presumably cut up into the makeshift bandages around his shoulder. He was so pale, so thin, so vulnerable that Kyoko blinked owlishly, staring uncomprehendingly at Gaara's prone form.
"Whoa," she breathed, mirth gone from her voice as her grin dropped. She jumped down from the rock, inching closer to try to catch a better glimpse of Sand's jinchuuriki. "What happened to him?" Her eyes flashed over him, catching sight of all the patches of redness smudged all over him. "Is that his blood?"
"Long story," Temari sighed. "You have a medical kit, right?"
Snapping back to reality, Kyoko nodded, frowning. "Of course, but I don't feel comfortable sitting in enemy territory. Can you guys wait until we reach the border? No one has anything life-threatening, right?"
Temari glanced at Kankuro, quickly looking him over as he did the same to her, before shaking her head. "No, we're all fine for now."
"Alright then," Kyoko said, sneaking another glance at Gaara's injured form. "Kankuro, get Gaara ready to be moved. Temari, fill me in on the situation. Have you encountered any ANBU or other pursuers?"
"We left immediately after Shukaku was knocked back into Gaara," Temari began.
"Wait, hold on, Shukaku was knocked back into Gaara?" Kyoko cut in, bewildered. Areno, who had silently crept over, nudged the back of her knees, reminding her to stay focused. Catching her distraction, Kyoko shook her head vigorously. "Wait, tell me later. Go on."
"Well, there was a genin who saw us leave, but we altered our route once we were out of range of his senses. We've stopped a couple of times every now and then to rest, but we've mostly been on the move. No pursuers yet. We suspect Baki's watching our backs."
Kyoko cracked a smile. "That's good. We should treat him to dinner once this is all over."
"We should," Temari chuckled. Then, with a scowl, she glanced over at Kankuro. "Kankuro, you idiot, are you ready yet?"
"Don't patronize me, Temari," the boy snapped back, standing up with Gaara secured between his back and the wrapped-up Crow.
"Alright, we'll be sticking to the forest ground. Stay out of the open. Areno, I want you to keep your nose and ears on high alert. If you even think you sense someone approaching us, let me know," Kyoko quickly instructed. When everyone nodded, she gestured with her hand and they pushed off, weaving through the trees as one tightly-knit unit.
"Kyoko," Temari said after a moment of traveling. "How did you even get here so fast?"
"Areno and his pack, of course," Kyoko replied, shooting a proud grin down at the dingo running beside her. "I brought a sand sled with me. That's how I got the retrieval squad here and that's how I'll be getting us four back."
Temari arched a brow. "Even so, it should've taken you longer to cover the distance."
Kyoko shrugged. "The trip's a lot shorter when you don't take breaks."
Kankuro's gaze shot over. "You serious? How are you not out cold from chakra exhaustion?"
"Soldier pills," Kyoko chirped. "One of the other chunin on the retrieval squad gave me and my dingos a bunch. Three days became one and a half pretty easily from there."
"Have fun with the chakra hangover after those pills wear off," Kankuro snorted.
Kyoko shrugged again. "You've got to do what you've got to do."
"How many shinobi came with you?" Temari asked.
"About ten other chunin," Kyoko replied. "We're technically only bringing supplies to help everyone cross the desert safely. We split up the moment we got here. Hopefully everyone else is okay."
"Eh, they'll be fine," Kankuro grumbled. "Most of the invasion force is jonin anyway so they can handle themselves. Besides, we're top priority."
"Gaara's top priority," Kyoko responded, rolling her eyes.
Kankuro's eye twitched in annoyance, but before he could snap out a response, Kyoko's eyes lit up.
"We're clear!"
The biting remark melted, forgotten, on Kankuro's tongue as the edge of the forest came into view. Rather abruptly, the trees grew sparser and sparser until there were no more, and the forest gave way to the flat plains that lay between Konoha's forest and Suna's desert.
Kyoko pulled out the thin scroll tucked in sash and unfurled it, setting it flat on the floor before planting her palm firmly on its blank canvas and trickling a bit of chakra into the fibers of the paper. In a puff of thick smoke, a sand sled appeared, moderately sized and specially designed for long-distance travel in the desert.
"Get yourselves situated," Kyoko instructed, though she had little need to. Temari and Kankuro were already strapping Gaara down securely, taking care not to jostle the boy's injured shoulder too much.
Leaving them to settle themselves, Kyoko turned away and bit down on her thumb. Once she had broken skin, her hands flew through a series of hand seals before she slammed her hand with the bleeding thumb on the ground. A black seal spiraled away from her palm. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"
In a puff of smoke, six tired-looking dingoes with fur coats varying from sandy beige to warm gold appeared, each sporting a Suna hitai-ate. Behind Kyoko, Areno perked up at the sight of his pack.
"Kyoko-sama?" several of the dingoes cried in alarm when Kyoko suddenly swayed on her feet.
Restabilizing herself against a tree trunk, Kyoko flashed a bright grin, waving a hand dismissively. "No worries, I'm fine. Sorry for bringing you guys out again so soon, but are you guys ready for another run?"
An uncoordinated symphony of mixed affirmations erupted from the pack, all of them wearing the same eager and determined expression on their furry faces.
Kyoko grinned. "Great! Get to your places then. We need to get out of here as soon as possible. Areno, you're leading today."
The seven dingoes yipped affirmatively and raced to their individual spots, wiggling into their holsters. Quickly, Kyoko went around, tightening the holsters comfortably. Then, she jumped aboard the sled as well and looked to Areno. Her grin was wide and fierce. "Okay, Areno, lead us home!"
MHJ: I hope you guys liked it! :) Thanks to everyone who reviewed and followed this story after reading the prologue! ^_^ Don't forget to review/follow! :) Constructive criticism, thoughts, opinions, what you liked/disliked—anything's cool. Next chapter will be up in like 2-3 weeks hopefully. Until then, ja ne~
